Posted By Troy E. Renck On April 12, 2014 @ 9:16 pm In General Rockies,Spotlight | No Comments

Michael Pineda (Associated Press file)

Spotlight on… Michael Pineda, RHP, Yankees

Background: Michael Pineda fell off the grid after the Yankees acquired him in exchange for top prospect Jesus Montero. Both were busts. Pineda, though, wasn’t healthy. His shoulder is healed, but it’s his right hand that has him in the news.

What’s up: During his start against the Red Sox on Thursday, Pineda dominated. He no longer was a stain on the Yankees’ rotation. But all of the talk afterward centered on the pine-tar smudge on his right hand. He insisted it was dirt. Yeah, right. The odd part was that Boston didn’t take exception. By the time Red Sox manager John Farrell alerted the umpires, Pineda had washed his hands of guilt.

Renck’s take: Baseball invites hypocrisy because of its stance on cheaters. PEDs are felonies. Those who been caught taking them have rightly been punished both in games and in legacy. But other rule breakers are smirked at as participants in a “Catch Me If You Can” hustle.

By rule, pitchers can’t add a foreign substance to the baseball. But hitters have told me repeatedly that they don’t mind pitchers using pine tar on cold nights to improve grip. It makes the game safer. That’s part of it. The other is that teams know where all of the bodies are buried. It’s hard for the Red Sox to raise a fuss after Clay Buchholz lathered his arm in sunscreen and rosin — together, the mix could be used as drywall — and Jon Lester had goo on his glove in the playoffs.

Baseball should allow for some substances — namely, pine tar — or eliminate the charade of rules altogether. Pineda’s cheating wasn’t new, just the most blatant since Kenny Rogers’ pine-tar affair in the 2006 World Series. MLB talked to the Yankees about Pineda on Friday. The conversation should have gone something like this: “Don’t be that guy who mocks the rule. We know this goes on, but do you have to look like you were in a wrestling match with Fred Biletnikoff and Lester Hayes?” The sport isn’t about to cut it out, but the least the pitchers can do is clean it up.